Fri, Feb 10 2012

Bulgaria's state railways to ban smoking

Thu, Mar 06 2008 22:27 CET

byElitsa Grancharova

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Bulgaria's state railways to ban smoking

Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev ordered the Bulgarian state railways BDZ to ban smoking in all trains and to strengthen the control over the passengers' luggage, two measures that he said would prevent the repeat of the deadly train fire that left nine people dead last week.

Although there is a standing ban on easily flammable substances in trains, no one is enforcing it, while luggage is rarely being searched, Moutafchiev said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

The devastating fire on the Sofia-Kardam train on February 28 was likely caused by some substance catching fire, according to witness accounts, he added.

BDZ is also now discussing a proposal to install cameras on train stations and on railway platforms, while Moutafchief wants BDZ management to develop system for registration and control of the passengers in sleeping carriages, since the identification of bodies after the fire was made more difficult by the absence of proper records.

Better communication between staff was also needed, since the initial investigation results showed that train chief, carriage attendants and other BDZ employees on the train could not reach each other in time to prevent the fire from spreading, Moutafchiev said.

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